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Our Coffee

“Green coffee is a living thing, more like produce than an inert spice or candy, and each one has a unique life span based on who produced it and where it's from.” —Charlie Habegger, Green Coffee Buyer

Flavor in coffee is a crescendo—no part of the journey is boring. In our cafes, we taste each coffee to determine the precise days on which it will achieve peak flavor (Hayes Valley Espresso, for instance, really sings on days 4–7). We only serve the absolute freshest coffee to you in our cafes and on our webshop.

When Will My Coffee Achieve Peak Flavor?

Single origins, blends, and espresso hit peak flavor at different paces and then stay at their “peak” range for two or three days. Try our coffee at different stages to experience their flavor evolution. (Then, throw out the rules and map your own preferences.) Please consume within two weeks of roast date.

Whole bean coffee peak flavor and freshness guide

When Should I Brew Whole Bean Coffee?

You can start brewing whole bean coffee the day you buy it. Refer to the deliciousness matrix above to identify your coffee’s peak flavor range. If you buy espresso beans, a rest or “de-gassing” period is extra important for pulling a sublime shot. We talk all about that here.

When Should I Brew Perfectly Ground?

Perfectly Ground makes this all very simple, because we only grind the coffee used for it on the precise day that it is most delicious. Not a day sooner. (At some point, we’ll get this down to the hour.)

When you grab an envelope of Perfectly Ground, you’ll know you’re hitting peak flavor just by tearing it open.

How Do We Evaluate Deliciousness?

Basically, it’s a science experiment.

We set up blind taste tests at different days out of the roaster. We taste each batch, repeatedly. James and our team of roasting and quality control experts cup all of our coffees before they go into the world. We repeat this process every day. Each time we change a component of one of our blends, we start over. Every time a new single origin is introduced (three to five times per month) we go through the process anew.

We then identify a window of peak flavor. When a coffee hits that range, it goes into service at our cafes and onto the shelves as whole beans.

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Our support

The kind souls on the support team are always here to help.Reach out to Daniel, Tom, Alyssa, Serah, or Mandi today.